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1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to playing cards used for educational and entertainment purposes, and more particularly to a versatile deck of musical notation cards which may be used in many ways to play many different games.
To entice students to memorize musical notation for the purposes of reading and performing music, the present invention endeavors to make this experience more entertaining, and thus more successful.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many games, educational methods and teaching aids have been created to assist students in learning how to read music. Illustrative examples of earlier approaches include those set forth in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,132 (Hale) teaches of music education system involving symbolism. U.S. Pat. No. 702,298 (Frederickson) teaches of a musical card game. U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,282 (Dillon) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,374 (Bowles) disclose new board games that relate to musical education.
Another common method for teaching music notation is by utilizing flash cards. These cards contain a musical note or symbol, and the student is asked to name the note or symbol as quickly as possible.
The prior art systems involve new and different game rules, so the student must learn a new game as well as the new language of music. This can become too complex to the student and result in disinterest and lack of desire for repeated play. Specific games also tend to appeal to a limited skill level and limited audience. The game may quickly lose its appeal after a few rounds of play.
In learning musical notation and terminology, the desired goal is simply associating the visible musical note with its given alphabetical name, and ultimately it""s audible tone. Some of the prior art systems also introduce symbolism for associating notes of the scale with colors or objects. This introduces another layer of symbolism that is irrelevant and must later be disassociated with the musical notation as the student advances.
Other prior art systems are focused specifically on learning the notes as seen on the piano keyboard. Many other instrumentalists or vocalists would benefit from a more general approach to learning musical notation.
The flash card system is excellent at providing a means for rote memorization, with no intermediate symbolism introduced. However, it becomes quickly uninteresting and is typically regarded as a chore rather than entertainment. Thus, students tend to be less focused and efficient in learning the notation, and the distaste can continue into the other aspects of learning how to perform music as well.
What is needed therefore, and an object of the present invention, is an efficient method and apparatus for learning and memorizing musical notation in a straightforward approach, which involves repetitive use of the language of music while playing games that are already familiar to the student from his previous experience.
It has been shown that repetition is an important technique for learning any new language. Musical notation, a system of circles and lines and spaces, can be considered a new language to a beginning student. Normally, the repetition and memorization only occur in a music lesson or through homework or other assignment. An entertaining method for providing this repetition is needed to capture the interest of the student for a long enough period so successful memorization can occur.
Other basic languages can be reinforced and taught throughout everyday life. The letters of the alphabet, colors, and basic mathematical relationships can be seen in many aspects of the student""s normal environment. Exposure and memorization can occur continually throughout the day. The language of music, however, is not readily apparent in everyday life. In order to learn this language, specific exposure needs to be instigated. Repetitive exposure through the play of entertaining games is an effective technique for learning and remembering the names and meanings of musical notation.
This invention enables students to learn the language of music by using musical notation while playing common card games, which should already be familiar to the student. By repeatedly using musical notation while playing familiar card games, the student quickly becomes comfortable with reading music.
A deck of playing cards is disclosed which utilizes musical notation and colored suits instead of the typical numbers with named suits. The musical notation symbols are printed in the corners of the cards to allow them to be used in card games. The musical symbols are shown exactly as they would appear in normal printed sheet music. For example, the treble clef notes are shown on the normal musical staff, with the treble clef indicia in its normal location at the beginning of the staff.
The deck can be used to play common card games such as xe2x80x9cMemoryxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cGo Fishxe2x80x9d. The games are played by matching and naming the musical notes or symbols, instead of matching the traditional numbers as would be done with a typical deck of cards. This invention is based on games already proven to be entertaining because of their popularity. Furthermore, additional rules can be applied due to the unique nature of musical notation. For example, a match can consist of matching the name notes across octaves as well as identical note matches. By reading musical notation while playing card games, the familiarity and comfort with the notation comes very quickly.
Increased fluency in music reading can be achieved by playing increasingly difficult or more complex games. Beginning students can learn on simplified versions of the xe2x80x9cOld Maidxe2x80x9d game by playing with a small number of cards. Increased proficiency can lead to playing more complicated games such as xe2x80x9cSpoonsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cKlondike Solitairexe2x80x9d.
As the student becomes familiar with the musical notes, extra cards with additional musical symbols can be added to certain games to make them more interesting. Several unique musical notation cards can be added to make the game xe2x80x9cCrazy 8""sxe2x80x9d, for example, more tailored towards musical enthusiasts, and increase the vocabulary of the students in the language of music.
Furthermore, the deck is general enough in nature to allow creative players to invent new games, or more interesting variations of popular traditional card games.
Hence, this single game system with this versatile deck of cards may be used in many ways to play many different games, and accommodate a variety of skill and age levels. Solitaire as well as group games can be played, to accommodate individual study or large groups or classes.
Motivating students to memorize musical notation for the purposes of reading and performing music is a common problem. The present invention endeavors to make this experience more entertaining, and thus more successful. Children and adults enjoy playing games, particularly familiar card games. With this inventive game, children can enjoy learning and practicing musical notation with adults or amongst themselves, without the supervision of a parent or teacher.
Adults find the games entertaining because they force the player to think in terms of a language not typically associated with these games. This single inventive card game system that appeals to adults as well as children has a further advantage in that children are motivated to play a game that adults seem to enjoy. Even if the actual game played is different and more in line with their skill level, the same novel deck of cards is used. Adults will find that using this game system will initiate an overall interest in children learning the language of music.
The games appeal to a wide range of skill and age levels, and support individual play as well as group participation. Furthermore, the games are general enough to teach musical notation itself, not as it pertains to any specific instrument. Also, the game apparatus is general enough to allow new game rules to be invented by the players to encourage improvisation and continued interest, thus enlarging the audience and lengthening the useful life of the game system.
Accordingly, an advantage of the invention is to provide an educational game which has wide appeal to a large audience of people spanning a large age group. In particular, an object is to provide a deck of cards that supports many different games, but that utilizes the language of music as the basis. Here an object is to provide a single deck of cards which can function as flash cards for teaching very young children to read music or can be used by older children and adults to play a variety of games, some being sophisticated games. A further object is to provide a means for creating games that may be invented by the players themselves.
Further advantages of this invention will appear more clearly from the following description of a non-limiting illustrative embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views.